Tig Notaro is beaming up for a tour of duty in Starfleet.
The comedienne, actress, and director will be guest-starring on CBS All Access’ Star Trek: Discovery. She will be taking on the role of Chief Engineer Denise Reno of the USS Hiawatha. There are no details as to the number of episodes she might appear in for the sophomore season of the show or what significance her character may play in the season’s story arc.
If the USS Hiawatha is a ship unfamiliar to those well-versed in Star Trek canon, fear not. It shouldn’t be because it’s never been mentioned on any TV series or in the films. Rather, in the Star Trek video game Starfleet Command, an Akula-class starship named USS Hiawatha is mentioned as serving Starfleet in the 23rd century, the time period in which Star Trek: Discovery is set.

Notaro comes directly off of having concluded playing the lead character in Amazon’s One Mississippi for two seasons. On the semi-autobiographical show, she wrote, produced and directed. Best known for her deadpan stand-up comedy, she has appeared in Fresh Off the Boat and Transparent. Most recently, she directed the four-part comedy special 2 Dope Queens for HBO. The special was based on the podcast of the same name featuring comediennes Jessica Williams and Phoebe Robinson. Notaro will be seen later this year co-starring in the upcoming comedy Instant Family with Octavia Spencer, Mark Wahlberg, and Rose Byrne.
This is the second bit of casting news announced this week. On Monday, CBS All Access revealed that they had cast Anson Mount to play Captain Christopher Pike for the season. All totaled, we have learned of three characters added to Season 2. Last month, a casting decision was revealed in the surprise release of an exclusive bonus scene cut from Episode 15 of Season 1. In the clip that was first shown at WonderCon last month, we saw actor Alan Van Sprang portray a member of Section 31 named Leland. Section 31 is the secret covert spy agency of the Federation.
More announcements should be expected as production on season two is scheduled to begin this month. Already castmembers Anthony Rapp and Sonequa Martin-Green have begun posting pictures on Twitter and Instagram showing themselves preparing to return to Toronto to begin filming.
Stay connected to Age of Discovery to be kept abreast as other news from the set starts coming in. #LLAP